Wolves striker Kevin Doyle has surveyed Villa’s attacking riches and concluded – “you couldn’t do it without Steve Sidwell.”

While you would expect most players at Molineux to be concerned about the pace of Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor, John Carew and James Milner or the set-piece prowess of Richard Dunne and James Collins, the club record £6.5million signing thinks different.

The striker approaches the first derby of his career insisting it is his former Reading team-mate Sidwell they should respect most.

Of the last 16 league games the former Chelsea man has started, going back to a 2-1 defeat against Middlesbrough on November 8 last year, Martin O’Neill’s side have been unbeaten.

Doyle said: “Steve was a top player at Reading – he was massive for us. I don’t think we ever really replaced him when he left.

“You can’t have the flair players Villa have without having someone to look after them, particularly when they’re as free-wheeling as they are up front.

“You need to have a good balance and he brings that. I think when he went to Villa he was injured to begin with and he’s only really established himself this season, but he’s one of their main men now. He’ll prove himself to be one of the top midfielders.

“He gets goals, he breaks up play, he starts play and he’s box-to-box with endless energy.”

But, even mindful of Sidwell’s influence, Doyle believes records are there to be broken.

He said: “It’s like us playing Portsmouth three weeks ago – they hadn’t won a game, but there’s always a first time. Records don’t stay, they’re there to be changed.”

Doyle comes face-to-face with Republic of Ireland team-mate Richard Dunne in the showdown, less than two months after facing him at Manchester City.

Dunne has scored two in five games since his £5million switch to Villa – both via set-pieces – and with Villa having scored all but three of their 12 goals via restarts, the Wolves striker admits they must be extremely wary of them.

He said: “I won’t be marking him thankfully – so I won’t have to worry about that! But, having watched them, we know they’re very good at set-pieces as a lot of teams are.”